This bike is done, and it’s gorgeous (this picture is from the day I brought the frame home, which was probably four weeks ago. I finished building it about two weeks ago). Building it and riding it are two of the many things I’ve been doing instead of photography. I got back home Wednesday from a six day backpacking trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway area of western North Carolina (unfortunately, we were blown off Mt. Mitchell by a hailstorm, but nearby Linville Gorge is incredibly beautiful and has some of the most technical trails I’ve ever hiked), and spent that week surrounded by people who are enthusiastic about photography. This made me want to get back to shooting. Hopefully I will.

Apparently I’ve missed a few things since I’ve been, well, doing other things. I’m a bit of a gear nerd, and I’m working on catching up on the things I’ve missed. Most notable so far:

-Pentax’s K-x, which I can find precious little information about but has an impressive buzz (good for Pentax)

-Pentax’s K-7, which doesn’t seem that impressive to me (come on, Pentax, I thought a K#D would be a professional model, not a K20D with the zero dropped)

-Nikon’s D300s, which means my body of choice is now 1 1/2 iterations out of date

-Canon’s 7D, which is yet another violation of the number-of-digits-before-the-D-connotes-the-level rule (definitely not worth converting over)

I’m sure there’s plenty more that I’ve missed (unfortunately, this does not seem to include a $50 35mm f/1.2 Nikkor or a $75 10-20mm f/2.8, though I am still looking), but I’ll catch up eventually. For now, I need to start shooting again (and to get a Nikon lens that will go wider than 50mm. Or longer).